10 Tips for Greening an Eco-Friendly St. Patrick’s Day
The “green” holiday is becoming anything but green. Back in the “olden days” when I was a kid, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day was simple. You put on some green clothing, perhaps a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” button, and made sure to down some beer that night. If you truly had the Luck of the Irish, you got to watch or march in a fabulous St. Patrick’s Day parade, like the one in New York City where I marched for years.
But like everything else in our consumerist society, we’re being prompted to buy more “stuff” to celebrate properly. I’ve admitted to loving the tacky, tacky side of Christmas, replete with blow-up inflatables and lighting, but decorating for the holidays is a longstanding tradition. Do we really need more inflatables barely three months later? This year, St. Patrick’s Day inflatables have popped up on suburban lawns, biding their time till they end up in our landfills. (Check it out here). And more and more, the retailers are offering special Cheap Plastic Crap for St. Patrick’s Day. Cheap Plastic Crap is bad enough in kid’s goody bags. Do we really want to encourage it on St. Patrick’s Day too?
Here are 10 tips for celebrating a truly green, eco-friendly St. Patrick’s Day. Have fun! Luck o’ the Irish to you!
1. Wear Green
2. March or Watch a St. Patrick’s Day Parade
3. Enjoy Some Irish Spirits
4. Sing Irish Songs
5. Visit an Irish Pub or Restaurant
6. Bake and Decorate Some Green Cookies or Cupcakes
7. Try Some Corned Beef and Cabbage
8. Say No to Cheap Plastic Crap for St. Patty’s Day
9. Say No to St. Patty’s Lawn Decorations
10. Smile and Say Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Have fun!
— Lynn
Copyright 2008 OrganicMania
Filed under Cheap Plastic Crap, Green Ideas & Stuff, Holidays, Tips | Wordpress Comments (5) |A Great “Green” Weekend Easy Do-Good Project
If you hate built-in obsolescence and have a story about an electronic gadget that broke and couldn’t be fixed, here’s a great way to bring some pressure against companies that perpetuate built-in obsolescence. This is a simple project courtesy of the Electronics Takeback Coalition and Beth at Fake Plastic Fish.
Here’s all you need to do to prepare to send an email detailing your gripe:
1. Note the make and model
2. Year purchased. Is it under warranty?
3. Why it’s dead. (Doesn’t turn on, won’t reboot, can’t upgrade it to run certain software, etc)
4. Steps taken to try to fix it, or cost to fix it. (Tell what happened…did you try to get it fixed but you were told you needed to replace the whole thing? Can you give details? If you know whom you spoke with at the company, that would be great.)
5. Send your story and a picture of the dead gadget (if you have one) to stories@deadgadgets.com — and tell your friends too.
For the full scoop, read the post at Enviroblog here.
Filed under Easy Green Weekend Projects, Green Cleaning Products, Green Ideas & Stuff | Wordpress Comments (2) |Don’t Throw Out That Baby Shampoo!
Since this month’s publication in the medical journal Pediatrics of a study linking infant exposure to shampoos, powders and lotions with increased urinary concentrations of phthalates, many parents have been replacing their favorite baby brands with organic alternatives. There’s cause for concern, since phthalates have been linked to changes in male reproductive development.
But there’s a difference between replacing and throwing out. In their zeal to get rid of questionable baby products, some parents are throwing out bottles of shampoo. Talk about an eco-mistake!
Instead of throwing the packages out, why not donate them? Of course, you won’t want to donate them to children’s organizations, but there are some great options that will enable the products to be re-used by populations that won’t be at risk for reproductive damage by phthalates – and where the health benefits of a shower or bath would far outweigh any other potential risk! (And of course, you can always use them yourself. In fact, many people dismiss this study. Here’s a counterpoint.)
If you do decide to donate the products, here are some options for re-use. Consider the following:
• Check out freecycle.org You can post a message offering the products and cautioning people to use them only for adults.
• Many charitable organizations offer showers to the homeless, and are constantly in search of toiletries. A great example of this is the “Water Ministry” run by Saint Columba’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. But organizations like this exist nationwide. Contact your local homeless agency to see where you can donate shampoos, soaps and lotions.
For a comprehensive list of natural baby products, check out the EWG’s research here.
— Lynn
Copyright OrganicMania 2008
Filed under Baby, Green Ideas & Stuff, Organic Personal Care Products, Parenting, Pregnancy, Product Recommendations, Tips | Wordpress Comments (9) |Forget Eco-Sins. How about Eco-Mistakes?
Somewhere along the line, the most die-hard environmentalists started using the term “eco-sin” to describe their environmental wrongs. It’s curious really, when most people have either abandoned the notion of sin or recoil in shame at the thought of willfully committing a sin against God’s creation.
Let’s cut each other some slack. Wouldn’t it be much more encouraging if we simply acknowledged our eco-mistakes? For the fact is, just as the pious know that none of us are without sin, so too are none of us “greens” in fact perfectly green.
Consider the following:
– an environmental advocacy group holds a meeting that welcomes attendees with green balloons (Sin?/Mistake? Ack! Plastic’s bad for the Earth, bad for the fish!);
– attendees at the same meeting leave their crumpled napkins, bottles and food behind on the tables, causing the cleaning staff to indiscriminately throw recyclables into the trash containers (Yikes! A meeting about recycling where the expert recyclers don’t recycle!);
– a new government building in a county that levies fines on businesses for non-compliance with recycling does not make recycling containers available in its snack areas (Judge not what I do, but what I say);
– a group of “green Moms” plans a “green” fundraiser, then encourages sponsors to purchase new items for giveaways at the fundraiser (Eek! Whatever happened to Reduce/Reuse?)
Eco-sins? No, eco-mistakes. We’re all human. Reversing long-held behavioral patterns is one of the hardest things to do. And that’s exactly what we’re in the process of doing – learning to change old behaviors.
That’s why the role of Mothers and Fathers is so critical. If we can just get it right with this next generation, there won’t be so many “eco-mistakes.” The next generation, having grown up with an innate green consciousness, will know better than us.
— Lynn
Copyright 2008 OrganicMania
Filed under Green Ideas & Stuff, Parenting | Wordpress Comments (8) |The Real Reason to Use Green Eco-Friendly Cleaners
One advantage of Clorox’s “green market” entry is that the general population (as opposed to the environmentalists) is being made aware of the advantages of eco-friendly cleaners. But the real reason for Moms to use green cleaners may surprise you. In fact, I discovered this quite by accident the other day, when an accident of another sort – the juvenile variety – struck my bathroom tub.
There was a time when I would have groaned and hustled my little darlings out of the way while I dumped copious amounts of Ajax, Clorox, Mr. Clean, and what-have-you into the tub, waited for the noxious fumes to dissipate, and then quickly wiped everything away before my eyes started to tear and my throat began to burn.
But with eco-friendly cleaners, you no longer have to worry about the fumes. The fact that their plant-based ingredients are healthy for you and healthy for the Earth means that you can involve your darlings in messy clean-ups without any worry of health effects. For a generation of kids that seem to have largely escaped household chores, this is a revelation.
My son gleefully pushed the trigger button of the “friendly cleaner” and asked what else he could do to help. I was thrilled that together we got the cleaning job done in a fraction of the normal time. He was so eager to help that together we cleaned the entire bathroom. My husband was in shock when he returned home (he always worries when I clean of my own volition, thinks I’m coming down with a fever, been abducted by space aliens or something of the sort).
So there you have it – give those kids some responsibility – give them a “friendly cleaner” and turn them loose!
— Lynn
Copyright OrganicMania 2008
Filed under Green Cleaning Products, Green Ideas & Stuff, Parenting, Product Recommendations, Tips | Wordpress Comments (8) |Simple “Green Valentines” for Your Little Kids
It’s hard to believe Valentines Day is next week. Soon it will be time to run out and buy those cutesy Valentine cards so popular with the preschool set. Wait a minute – they’re packaged in boxes shrink wrapped in environmentally unfriendly plastic. Plus, who ever remembers to buy them until your little darling reminds you the day before Valentine’s Day? By then the odds are good that you’ll need to make an extra trip to the store just to pick up the cards – wasting gas.
This Valentine’s Day, get ahead of the curve with an approach that’s cute, eco-friendly, inexpensive, and fun. Go retro and make your own Valentine’s cards!
You can get fancy if you want, but I’ve gotten rave reviews from the preschool teachers with just the simplest of Valentines. Before my son could even cut out a heart shaped valentine, he cut circles, squares, oblong odd shapes – whatever he could muster – from red construction paper. Then I either wrote his name on each one or he stuck a sticker with his name on each Valentine.
The teachers and kids loved the home made Valentines. I loved doing a simple, easy craft with my child from materials that we already had at home. What’s more, I didn’t waste gas, consume unnecessary plastic, or have to spend bucks on silly Valentine’s cards.
C’mon…join me and make your own Valentines. It’s just one simple way to show love to Mother Earth this Valentine’s Day!
— Lynn
Copyright 2008 Organicmania
Filed under Green Ideas & Stuff, Holidays, Uncategorized | Wordpress Comments (4) |The Last Word on Green Tacky, Tacky
It’s been two weeks since I wrote about Green Tacky, Tacky and asked my dear readers for tips on where to find tacky “green” LED lights like choo choo trains, reindeer, Santa and the like. Guess what? No luck. Not a tip. Nada. Zilch. I even called upon my dear friend Karen, who works as an “elf” at her family’s business, Santa’s World, one of America’s largest importers of Christmas decorations. Not even she had heard of tacky green outdoor decorations.
What’s more, our one remaining tacky item, the 8 foot tall towering Santa, died – or deflated or something. What a sad sight. The neighborhood kids are beside themselves.
So now in a single season, our house has gone from being the talk of the neighborhood to simply another boring tastefully decorated house with LED lights.
To make matters worse, some of my friends in the “real world” have suggested that tacky and green don’t go together. Are you either green and tasteful, or non-environmentally friendly and tacky?
And if I don’t find tacky green outdoor decorations? What will I say to the neighborhood kids, as they gaze at the deflated Santa on my lawn? Will I commit an eco-sin and buy the non-environmentally friendly outside decorations? Well, I don’t confess sins but every Mother in America knows what I’ll do next.
— Lynn
Filed under Green Ideas & Stuff, Holidays | Wordpress Comment (0) |An LED Rant, Warning and Recommendation
Here at the Green Tacky, Tacky home front, we were quite content with our new environmentally friendly LED lights procured from Target Friday evening. However, upon trying to install them this weekend, we realized that the lights were designed for built-in obsolescence. If one light blows, there’s no way to remove it to replace the bulb. Riddle me this: why are products only half-way green? You see it all the time: organic food served on Styrofoam plates or plastic cards in a food co-op. It just is crazy.
So off we set to our neighborhood hardware store, Strosniders, where they tend to carry the very finest of everything. (They also happen to be 100% wind-powered, isn’t that cool?) For about $3 more a box than the cheap environmentally unfriendly LEDs we bought at Target, we purchased replacement LEDs that came complete with two spare bulbs in the packaging. Check out Good Tidings brand Ultimate Indoor / Outdoor LED lights.
— Lynn
Filed under Green Ideas & Stuff, Holidays, Product Recommendations | Wordpress Comments (2) |Green Tacky, Tacky
I left small town New Jersey years ago to fashion myself a Washington DC sophisticate. Prior to kids, I had largely succeeded, at least until the Christmas season rolled around and my true roots were revealed: New Jersey through and through. You see, in Jersey, Christmas means Christmas lights. Not the tasteful white lights that women who read “Southern Living” string up alongside beautiful displays of greenery. Christmas means big, honking, obnoxious, “tacky,” as my British DH would say, BIG LIGHTS like at the “Elvis House” in Mahwah, New Jersey and the Koenig Christmas House in Lodi, New Jersey, which features 43,000 lights synchronized to music and a bowling Santa scene.
I tried to explain to DH that next to those crazy light shows, our display of a towering eight foot tall inflatable Santa, blinking choo choo train, miniature lighted Santas up the front walk, and Rudolph (of course), accented by tasteful Southern Living-esque white icicle lights along the front of the house was positively modest.
What I never realized as I amassed that amazing collection of Christmas lights at various post Christmas close-out sales was that unlike the fine New Jersey lights of my youth, these were designed for built-in obsolesence. There’s no way to replace the bulbs, and besides, now that I’m more energy-aware, I felt a bit guilty of an eco-sin.
So tonight we trudged out to Target to get some energy-efficient LED Christmas lights. Regrettably, LEDs are seriously lacking in the tacky department. We did manage to find some multi-colored big bulby looking lights for the house and a rounded Merry Christmas sign, but I had to pass on a replacement choo choo train, Rudolph, and mini-Santa lights because they were none available in the LED section. What’s more, the multi-colored LEDs were nearly sold out. There were plenty of those bright blue LEDs that hurt your eyes when you look at them.
If you need to replace your old energy-hogging incandescent lights with energy efficient LEDs, you better get right to it, because the stores are selling out of them. Here are a few online sources for LEDs: Mr.Light.com, Holidayleds.com, and Christmaslightsetc.com. And here’s a cool site that sells solar powered lights – Solarsanta.com.
By the way, if you see any tacky, tacky LED lights, PLEASE let me know where to find them!
–Lynn
Filed under Green Ideas & Stuff, Holidays | Wordpress Comments (10) |
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